Vatican Clears Rumors on Mother Teresa Canonization Report

26 Nov 2015
Posted by Nathan Glover

Canonization date for Mother Teresa cannot be set until cause of sainthood is determined.

Vatican has put an end to the rumors that an official date has been set for the canonization of Mother Teresa. On Wednesday, November 18 Office of the Holy See Press spoke to the Catholic News Agency and revealed that the Vatican is yet to resolve the cause of sainthood. The Office noted that a date for canonization will only be made official after the former has been concluded.

It is noteworthy that this is not the first time the Vatican had to clarify canonization reports of the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, MC. Reports of a canonization date have been surfacing since Father Caetano Rizzi first revealed that Pope Francis would like to see Mother Teresa canonized during the Jubilee Year of Mercy. Vatican spokesman before Father Rizzi, Fr. Federico Lombardi had also made a statement along the same lines. The Vatican spokesman did mention however that nothing was certain at the time.

Vatican Spokesman stresses @Pontifex still needs to approve a miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, but a canonization "would be lovely".

The latest of these speculated canonization reports come from an Italian agency AGI, which held that Mother Teresa would be canonized in September 2016. While the agency fails to identify a source, the Vatican can see from where the rumor could have arisen. In the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which will begin on December 8, 2015 with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and end on November 20, 2016 with the Feast of Christ the King; September 4, 2016 is marked the “Jubilee for Workers and Volunteers of Mercy”. It will closely follow the feast day of the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, which is September 5.

However, the Holy See Press clarifies that nothing is fixed yet.

Mother Teresa, who also won the Nobel Peace Prize of 1979 for her work with the poor in India, was beatified on October 19, 2003, as the “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta” after the Catholic Church credited a miracle to her intercession; an Indian woman suffering from cancer reported that she was cured for her disease by a beam of light that came from a picture she had at home of the Blessed Mother. The Vatican needs to credit a second miracle to the intercession of the Mother General for Pope Francis to be able to canonize her. It is studying the case of a Brazilian man who was likely cured of multiple brain abscesses and tumors by the intercession of Mother Teresa. If its medical board is able to attribute this or a different miracle to her, Pope Francis will canonize the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta as Saint Teresa. But until the attribution, the Vatican will not commit to a date.